The "Unique" War - American propaganda film (Hearts and Minds Campaign)

I think this is an interesting propaganda film because it talks about the 'hearts and minds' campaign in the Vietnam War.

Also, the basic strategy of the this war - this unjust war - against Vietnam would seem to be the basic strategy the US has been using in its war against 'terrorism' around the world.

In 1954 the US promised that if the North Vietnamese released the captured French army, there would be elections within 2 years to unify Vietnam.

However, when the US learned that the people wanted Ho Chi Minh to be their leader, the US refused to hold elections and began a 'hearts and minds' campaign to bribe and convince the people of Vietnam that capitalism is better than communism.

I think there are strong parallels in regard to the US strategy in the Middle East. It is, basically, a hearts and minds campaign to convince the people to live in a certain way and to adopt certain beliefs.  There is no attempt to understand the 'enemy's" ideology or beliefs or complaints.

Many of these videos from the Vietnam War show the US government learned little from this tragedy. We are repeating this tragedy.

The Battle of Hamburger Hill - 1969 "Was it worth it?"

This was a battle for a hill near the border with Laos.

The US military apparently felt this battle was necessary because the hill was so close to the Ho Chi Minh trail - through which North Vietnam sent supplies to the Viet Cong fighting in South Vietnam.

University of Wisconsin/Madison students protested the war - amazing documentary

This is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.

It follows a group of soldiers in Vietnam and students at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who opposed the war.

I also attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison and am proud of these students (who attended many years before I did) who protested against a war which was wrong.

The My Lai Massacre

This video is about the My Lai Massacre, in which American soldiers killed over 500 South Vietnamese villagers.

It is also about how the US military attempted to cover up this horrible atrocity.

It is also about Hugh Thompson, an American helicopter pilot who saw what was happening and tried to stop it. He also fought for justice for the Vietnamese who were murdered by this group of American soldiers under the command of Captain Medina.

This is a heart-breaking video but it is important, I believe, to watch it.

The Viet Cong

These were the guerrilla fighters who fought for the independence of Vietnam. This video provides an overview of the Vietnam War. It is not completely free of anti-Vietnamese propaganda, but it's a pretty good video.

They talk about the Vietnamese 'booby traps' as being like 'terrorist' techniques, but they don't mention how dropping more bombs on Vietnam than were dropped on Germany in World War II was obvious terrorism on the part of the US government back then.

The Battle of Con Thien 1967 - 1968

This battle was reported by Time Magazine in 1967 and was the first indication to Americans that something was wrong in regard to how this war was going.  CBS followed the Time Magazine report with this documentary.

American Television Biography of Ho Chi Minh

You can see how an American TV network presented the leader of the North Vietnamese: Ho Chi Minh. Lots of propaganda mixed in with facts. It shows how easily a crazy government policy seeps into the major news outlets.

Why Vietnam? US propaganda Film from 1965

An excellent propaganda film showing how the US government sold a crazy war to the American people.

The North Vietnamese are demonized as aggressors, but what about the French who occupied Vietnam after World War II? Basically the film just presents one side of the overall story.

The Vietnamese people just wanted all foreign soldiers to leave their country. 

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident: Pretext for War

In 1964 an American ship claimed that Vietnamese ships had fired torpedoes at it. It turns out, this never happened. Nevertheless, the President of the US, at that time, Lyndon Johnson, used this 'attack' as an excuse to begin bombing North Vietnam.

The person interviewed in this video is Robert McNamara, and I am not sure how believable he is. After the war he spent a lot of time trying to prove that he was not guilty of helping to cause this war.

One part of the video is really confusing to me. He mentions a coup in South Vietnam which lead to the killing of the South Vietnamese president Diem.  He claims this was a surprise to him and that Kennedy was very angry about this.

Many historians, however, believe that kennedy, himself, ordered the military coup and also ordered the assassination of Diem.

US Helicopter Door Gunners

This seems to be a recruitment film as well as a film meant to show the American people what their soldiers were doing.

It's actually a pretty weird film, well worth seeing. It has kitschy, bizarre music in the background and presents the motives for the soldiers in the film as being completely patriotic. Basically the film was meant to generate pride in the US military among Americans who watched the film.

You do not see any people getting killed, but you do see wounded American soldiers being air-lifted out of combat zones.  There are assertions that the North Vietnamese shot at medical helicopters in this film, but the narrators do not seem to have any problem with the presence of American soldiers in Vietnam.

The Battle of Ia Drang - November 1965

In November of 1965 this was the first real battle between the US army and the North Vietnamese Army. It was this battle which convinced those who were running the war for the US to use a helicopter strategy for moving troops into and out of battle.

There is a heart-breaking image in this video - of a very young Vietnamese boy who has been captured by the US military.